www.racetechmag.com 52 TOURING CARS BTCC safety

ACCESS ALL AREAS Andrew Charman discovers how the British Touring Car Championship is constantly seeking to improve its product, whether it’s making the racing safer or giving the fans a better show

UNDAY July 31 2015 was ‘one of camera gantry, that seared itself on the SEAT OF THE ISSUE those days’ for the British Touring Car memories of both spectators and the live TV SChampionship. At the end of it, most audience. All were glad to see both Abbott Safety has always been a prime concern of involved in the UK’s biggest motorsport and the cameraman walk away, the latter the BTCC and all involved. Part of the wide series were simply glad to get away from having remarkably kept focused on the car appeal of the series is the body-rubbing the Norfolk circuit of Snetterton after as it flew towards him. nature of the racing, but this inevitably unprecedented mechanical carnage. In a strange way, however, when one results in clashes, causing much mechanical No one could remember the last time two looked under the surface a day which no- damage but thankfully seldom resulting in successive BTCC races had been brought to one wanted to repeat also served to illustrate injuries to drivers. Series officials, however, a stop by red flags, the first caused by an just how the BTCC is seeking to constantly can never be complacent. expensive multi-car crash on the fastest part upgrade its product across all areas. While Since 2015 the BTCC Next Generation of the circuit during race two. the accidents highlighted the reason for the Touring Car (NGTC) formula has also It was, however, the sight of Hunter latest evolution of the series’ safety package, been specified as the TCN-1 regulations of Abbott’s Chevrolet barrel-rolling along the clearing up the carnage also showed how the FIA, the world motorsport governing straight at the start of race three, finishing the BTCC is constantly trying to please its body’s major national Touring Car up atop a barrier having demolished a TV fanbase with more racing and fewer delays. formula and effectively the step below

52 www.racetechmag.com November 2016 Issue 192 Subscribe +44 (0) 208 446 2100 www.racetechmag.com TOURING CARS 53

the FIA’s lead series the World Touring Car originally developed in 2002 for the Dodge effectively make the seat out of concrete, Championship (WTCC). Viper race project by the late Dr John Melvin, so that it is absolutely rigid – it has to have As BTCC technical director Peter Riches a much-admired independent racing safety some energy absorbency, to help keep the explains, generally the NGTC way with consultant to the FIA, Indy Racing League driver safe.” regard to safety is to introduce any changes and NASCAR. Installing such seats into cars requires a year after they have been adopted by the As David Phillips from Racetech Europe modifications to the roll cage, principally WTCC. So before the 2016 season, BTCC explains, under 8862-2009 the seat is to provide a means of attaching the teams were informed that they would effectively integrated into the structure of rear mount, in addition to the usual need to upgrade their driver seats from the the car, particularly around the head and rails. In the case of the BTCC, the MSA’s previous 8858-1999 FIA safety standard to shoulder areas – the most critical – so that rollcage homologation document gained the new 8862-2009 version. impact loads are transferred to the chassis. a one-page addendum allowing for the The latter standard is mandated for most “Integrating the seat into the chassis at installation of an extra bar on which to FIA series at global level, including Le Mans, shoulder level produced much greater attach the seat back mount. GT3 and the World Rally Championship, strength and improvement to how the driver “The roll structure has to have some and was created following a number of was kept safe in a crash, rather than the seat way of holding the seat, but it is fairly fatalities resulting from 8858-1999 standard deforming and allowing movement in the simple,” Phillips says. “Some roll cage seats failing in crashes. David Black of upper part of the driver’s body,” Phillips says. manufacturers weld threaded bosses into New Zealand-based seat manufacturer The 8862-2009 seats also have to survive the roll cage, while some just use a clamp Racetech helped write the 8862 standard, a much more intensive testing procedure: to attach the mount to the cage, and this which particularly features an upper back “The seat has to be a lot stronger; the is also perfectly acceptable – there are a mount connecting the seat to the car’s roll destructive forces the test puts them through number of ways of doing it.” protection structure. This concept had been are a lot higher. But equally you can’t The arrival of the 8862-2009 standard

OPPOSITE, ABOVE & BELOW Safety first: That emerged unscathed from his Chevrolet’s destruction of a camera tower at Snetterton owed a lot to the upgraded design of his race seat

Photos: PSP Images

Subscribe +44 (0) 208 446 2100 November 2016 Issue 192 www.racetechmag.com 53 54 54 Andrew Charman www.racetechmag.com Proton at Snetterton distorted every partofthecar– excepttheseat Snettertondistorted every Proton at ABOVE Written off: The unprecedenteddestruction ofDaniel Welch’s 2016 period,however, wasthetimescale with BTCCteamsinthewinter2015- ThemajordifficultyPhillipsexperienced nothing,” saysPhillips. to thecostofbuildingandrunningacarit’s about thecostofthem,butinproportion carbon Kevlarroute.“Teams docomplain not surprisinglymostBTCCteamswentthe of thelatter, butalsohalftheweight,and composite. Theformeraretwicethecost in twomaterials,carbonKevlarorglassfibre success ballast”,talland&wide), for whatPhillipsdescribesas“Driverswith seat ismadeinfoursizes(standard,wide cost-focus orweight-focus–theRacetech Teams wereabletochoosebetweena their predecessors. year lifecyclecomparedtothefiveyearsof seats –thoughthenewdohavea10- double thepriceofprevious8858-1999 significantly heavier, alliedtoacostaround extensive testinginvolved,madethem extra materialintheseats,andmore on thegroundsofcostandweight.The resistance fromBTCCteams,principally new seats,thechangesproducedinevitable engineering involvedtoincorporatethe Despitetheapparentsimplicityof supply 23ofthe32carsonBTCCgrid. and betweenthemCobraRacetechnow ago as2008,atie-upwastheobviousmove, having solditsfirst8862-2009seataslong a relationshipwithRacetechandthelatter many teams.With Cobraalreadyenjoying new standardbutdidhavecontactswith Dunsford, whichdidnotmakeaseattothe and Telford-based Cobra,runbyMark produce itsown8862-2009standardseat, have beenCorbeau,whichwasableto the twomajorseatsupplierstoseries involvement intheBTCC.Inrecentyears significantly increasedRacetech’s TOURING CARS BTCCsafety www.racetechmag.com November 2016Issue192

PSP Images ’s DynamicsHondaCivic the Speedworks of Tom Ingramand suppliedbyCobra/Racetechin the 2016-specseat ABOVE &BELOWSittingcomfortably: Two viewsof but theirdriversallwalkedaway toseveralcars,caused majordamage Snetterton accident onthestraightat BELOW Straightintodisaster: The Subscribe +44(0)208446 2100

Ebrey/BTCC

www.racetechmag.com 56 TOURING CARS BTCC safety

BELOW Head strong: In this view of the Cobra seat in the Speedworks Honda Civic of Matt Simpson the upper mount can just be seen Ebrey/BTCC

provided in which to install the seats. “Our ability to perform and deliver was tested,” he admits. “Teams were reluctant to make the changes and we didn’t get the go-ahead until really late, just before the season started. “Each seat takes a week to make and they are manufactured in New Zealand, so they need shipping over. We had all-nighters helping teams install seats leading up to the first round of the series but we still managed to get everybody on the grid for the first race.” Initial reaction to the seats from drivers was

somewhat negative, until they realised that the gains Ebrey/BTCC were not just in safety. “I spoke to (Honda’s) when he first had his seat, and he didn’t like it, ABOVE & BELOW All change: These views of the 2015-spec Corbeau seat in said it was uncomfortable,” recounts Phillips. “Just a Andrew Jordan’s MG and the 2016 version in ’s few weeks later I spoke to him again and he said he’d Powermaxed clearly show the enhanced side protection got comfortable in it and loved it. “(BMW driver) told us that the seat gave him such better feedback – he’s now up at the front of the grid contending for the championship and we think it’s because he can better feel what the car is doing.” The real value of the seats, however, was proved beyond doubt at Snetterton. Following his wild roll along the barrier Hunter Abbott was able to step out of his Chevrolet, which was fitted with a Corbeau seat to the 8862-2009 standard. Earlier in the day Daniel Welch had walked away from an impact to his Proton that left the car written off with an unprecedented level of damage. Welch was so impressed with his Cobra/Racetech

56 www.racetechmag.com November 2016 Issue 192 Subscribe +44 (0) 208 446 2100

www.racetechmag.com 58 TOURING CARS BTCC safety RML Ltd

seat he phoned Mark Dunsford on the ABOVE These CAD drawings show the new design of lifting eyes Tuesday following the race to thank him. devised by RML Ltd and mandatory for 2017-spec BTCC cars “The only straight bit of the car following the crash was the seat,” says Welch. engineer can’t do.” inevitably results in accidents, and while “Every part of the car was distorted except He believes that after initial resistance, red-flagged races are rare, laps behind a the seat and its mounting – it did its job in the teams and the drivers understand the safety car while crashes are cleared away are the impact. value of the new seats, and not just in terms routine – at this year’s Rockingham meeting “We actually wanted to fit these seats to of safety, saying: “Quite simply, the seat one race alone was broken up by three our BTCC cars three years ago, we were enables the driver to drive faster for longer.” safety-car periods. running them in our endurance car at the Gone are the days when the BTCC race time – they are so much safer and you get a LIFTING THE SHOW was a single event of many laps, so that a much better feel for driving the car.” safety-car period made little difference to the Phillips believes that lessons have been Safety is of course the leading concern for all outcome. Today there are three races at each learnt in the installation of the new seats involved in the BTCC but another significant meeting, and each one can be of as little as and any initial issues won’t be seen in future: priority is the show itself. Series head Alan 16 laps. The first three laps lost under the “It will be a lot easier for car builders to Gow has never hidden his appreciation for, safety car are added to the race distance, but integrate the seat. There is some variation and inspiration from, the fan-centric attitude even so running around in convoy frustrates – if you know the angle the driver wants displayed by such US series as NASCAR, and the drivers and particularly the fans, as well the seat positioned at, it’s easy to integrate has always been concerned with the quality as potentially putting a tight programme it into the roll structure. But if the driver’s of the action presented to the fans at the orchestrated by TV timing requirements not involved in the construction they may circuits and watching on the TV. behind schedule. require the angle changed once they’ve sat Over the past couple of seasons such So the BTCC has focused on the efficiency in it and some engineering will be necessary attention to detail has expanded beyond the of the clean-up process. The first moves to make an interface change. But it’s not cars themselves to the ‘support team’. As in this area were seen last season with difficult, only a case of making brackets was so clearly demonstrated at Snetterton, the launch of the ‘BTCC Genius’, a more in the correct materials, nothing a BTCC the close, action-packed nature of the BTCC effective and more rapid method of dealing

Andrew Charman BELOW Having a strop: Revised lifting strops, designed and manufactured by specialist T & C Services, also form a part of the new-for-2017 system

ABOVE The Team Parker Ford Focus of Alex Martin was selected to test the new lifting system and the eyes installed Andrew Charman

58 www.racetechmag.com November 2016 Issue 192 Subscribe +44 (0) 208 446 2100 www.racetechmag.com TOURING CARS 59

with track debris such as oil spillages or mud. A specially-adapted pick-up truck No net gain is now part of the emergency team at all BTCC meetings. WHILE as stated in the main text the BTCC generally adopts the safety The major issue for clean-up teams, upgrades of the WTCC a year later, this is not always the case. As well as however, is recovering damaged cars, mandating the new seat requirements for 2016, this season’s technical particularly immovable examples in regulations also informed teams that for 2017 the series would change its need of placing on a flatbed truck – the protective window net regulations to a new format already applied to the WTCC. lengthy process of ensuring a car can However this move has now been postponed. be safely lifted without tipping forwards BTCC technical director Peter Riches explains that the new net standard had or backwards can soon eat into time. originally been created for GT3 racing, where the driver sits in a much more laid- After Hunter Abbott’s Snetterton startline back position compared to that of a Touring Car. accident the rescue teams remarkably had “We have decided to delay this move as the new nets are not ideal with the everything ready to go within 45 minutes, upright seating position of a touring car with regard to mirror visibility and stick but coming at the end of a difficult day shifting – we have drivers’ elbows catching in the net when turning the steering the inevitable result was a reduced race wheel,” Riches says. He adds that the BTCC will now be looking for a more distance and the postponement to a practical solution. later meeting of a round of the Ginetta Supercup, due to race after the BTCC. Therefore early in 2016 the BTCC set its requirement to install the lifting eyes. that when a car needs to be pulled away new chassis supplier, RML Ltd, the task of These will be combined with twin steel from a parallel position against a barrier, an producing a more effective solution. After towing eyes front and rear, with a two- equal load is put on both towing eyes. studying the problem, the chosen way tonne capacity, an upgrade to be adopted Few BTCC fans will ever be aware of these forward was to adapt a method used in the by the MSA across all appropriate series in behind the scenes changes – but as a result support series. All cars 2017. Recovery crews will be provided with of them, they will enjoy more laps of racing, competing in this series must be fitted with appropriate towing straps that will ensure and fewer laps of high-speed convoys… lifting eyes at their centre-of-gravity point, which allows them to be easily connected and transferred onto a recovery vehicle. While all the cars in the Porsche support series are the same, however, BTCC grids comprise a variety of body shapes, front and rear-wheel-drive formats, with corresponding variations in the centre of gravity. As a result the design of a lifting system to work across all formats proved quite complex. A solution was arrived at based around two lifting eyes built into the car and a new design of strop and lift beam, which were designed and built for the series ABOVE Having been test bed for the new BTCC by specialist T & C Services, based near system, the Parker Ford Focus called upon it Buntingford in Hertfordshire for real following the Snetterton start line crash The Dextra Racing with Team Parker Ford Focus entry of Alex Martin was selected as a ‘guinea pig’ and fitted with the new lifting eyes prior to the mid-season tyre test at Snetterton, so that recovery crews could practice with the system. Further tests were carried out at the meeting in August, with excellent results. Ironically, following the startline crash at the Snetterton race meeting, Martin’s damaged car became the first to be lifted out of necessity using the new system. For the 2017 season the BTCC will be issuing circuits with several sets of the new strops and lifting arms. A technical bulletin ABOVE Wheel off: Further tests of the system at Knockhill were carried out has also been issued informing teams of the using a different lifting vehicle and with the car’s rear wheels removed

Subscribe +44 (0) 208 446 2100 November 2016 Issue 192 www.racetechmag.com 59